Chen 3
Chen
Professor
Lit.CritAccommodating Task
08/07/2015
A Formalist perception of The Painted Door
Patience can lead to great things in life, but to others patience is like an act of torture, waiting until the bell rings to go. In the short story The Painted Door by Sinclair Ross, Ann’s patience is tested to see whether she will stay faithful to her husband John, or sin behind his back in the cold winter’s storm by being with Steven. Particularly, in The Painted Door, Ross uses a series of imagery, mood and conceit to demonstrate the path Ann is taking, that is leading to a change as a dynamic character, as Ann’s patience towards her husband lacks.
To begin, imagery is exposed in the following lines “She glanced up again and he was smiling at her. The same insolence, the same little twist of mockery and appraisal. It made her flinch suddenly, and ask herself why she was pretending to expect John – why there should be this instinct of defence to force her.” (Ross 13) In this passage, the author demonstrates strongly Ann’s uncertainty to stay faithful to her husband. “The same insolence, the same little twist of mockery and appraisal,” (13) indicates that Ann’s thoughts and feelings are challenging her to be patience and to not think of Steven in a disgraceful way. More importantly, the author is implementing this image in our minds because he is hinting that Ann is losing her sense of patience and doubts that John will come back to her. “why she was pretending to expect John – why there should be this instinct of defence to force her”. (13) In this case, this is the beginning of the problem Ann has with patience. She is beginning to rethink whether it is worth her time to hold onto the little hopes faith that John will come back to her, or whether she should stop worrying and enjoy the accompaniment she has with Steven. This is an example of mental torture that Ann has to go through which is challenging her to be faithful to her husband John. Ultimately, as a dynamic character her torture in this kind of patience is leading her to sin, which is also changing her view on waiting.
Next, mood is demonstrated through the following passage, “There was something strange, also terrifying, about this Steven and his quiet, unrelenting smile; but strangest of all the familiarity; the Steven she had never seen or encountered and yet had always known always expected, always waited for.” (Ross 13) Abruptly, there is a mix of moods that is indicating Ann’s torment with keeping patience. Here, Ross uses words such as “strange”, “terrifying”, yet “familiarity” to demonstrate Ann’s manipulative mind. Ann is feeling fearful and unsure of what she truly wants, even though Ross emphasises that she’s “always expected, always waited for” something she cannot put words to. Nothing is getting easier for Ann; in fact the more she is looking towards Steven, the more she is losing patience and wants to forget John for a brief moment. At this moment, Ann cannot wait any longer; despite how much she desperately wants to hold on to a piece of having John near. Instead, while she is frustrated and tormented mentally, physically her body is slowly giving in to the sin she knows is coming. Slowly, patience is no longer something Ann can hold on to, instead she is falling in a darker path she never thought possible, especially for her character as the faithful farmer’s wife.
Finally, conceit can be determined in the following passage, “swiftly, she was making comparisons again; his face so different to John’s, so handsome and young and clean – shaven.” (Ross 13) Ann is suffering more than ever before and her path is now sinking deeper into sin. Without question, Ann has completely lost her sense of patience as she is making comparisons between Steven and John. Additionally Ross is creating this poetic image, by exaggerating the comparisons Ann is making of Steven to John to further emphasise that Ann will not be waiting for her husband tonight. For instance, Ross uses words such as: “handsome”, “young” and “clean – shaven” to describe what Steven has, in which John lacks. Numerous times Ann desperately knows that John is her equal and John is the one. However, as her mind fails to keep patient and is now looking at Steven (John’s friend) in a way she shouldn’t, it is invading her mind and the path Ann thought she should never go down is going to fall head first into a trap she cannot escape.
As Joyce Mayer once said “Patience is not the ability to wait, but how you act while you wait.” In the short story The Painted Door, it is evident that Ann had lost her ability to be patient while waiting for husband to come home, as she had slipped into the temptation of thinking of Steven as her husband. Not to mention, the way that Ann acted while she desperately hung on to knowing John may just come home, is atrocious because not only did she dread being patient, but she was questioning whether or not it was going to be worth the wait. Nevertheless, Ann’s behaviour changed drastically in just one long passage, that who she once was an innocent wife, is no longer innocent.
Worksite:
Ross, Sinclair. The Painted Door.N.p.: n.p., n.d. Web. 09 July 2015. <
"Patience Quotes."Run Wild Run Free. Running With Haynes, 23 Apr. 2014.Web. 9 July 2015. <